Thursday, March 31, 2016

The global EV market continues to grow at rapid pace, with almost 35.000 units delivered in February, representing a 44% growth rate YoY.

In February the Nissan Leaf secured once again the leadership, with 5.253 units, its best result in 11 months, representing a 43% sales increase YoY.

In Second we have the BYD Tang, the 2.098 units are a somewhat disappointing score, but it might be explained by manufacturer prioritizing other models (e6, Qin...).

Below these two, there is a really close race between the #3 Tesla Model S and the #4 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, both ended the month separated by just four units, but the excitement doesn't end there, as the race for the following positions are also close, the #6 Renault Zoe is closing in to the #5 BAIC E-Series EV, with 104 units between them, and the same can be said between the #7 BMW i3 and #8 Chevrolet Volt.

Final note for the first Top 10 presence of the Audi A3 e-Tron, with the german hatch now being sold in the USA, it looks that the Audi model will become a frequent guest here.

Pl

WORLD

Feb.

YTD

%

'15Pl

1

Nissan Leaf

5.253

9.716

14

2

2

BYD Tang

2.098

6.110

9

8

3

Tesla Model S

2.631

4.746

7

1

4
5
6

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEVBAIC E-Series EVRenault Zoe

2.759
1.576
1.666

4.7423.2223.118

7
5
4

3
11
7

7

BMW i3

1.228

2.349

3

5

8

Chevrolet Volt

1.228

2.318

3

9

9

Volkswagen e-Golf

953

2.005

3

13

10

Audi A3 e-Tron

971

1.922

3

14

TOTAL

34.714

71.409

Manufacturers - Nissan #1

The 30 kWh reignited Nissan recovered the First Place, with BYD being left for the moment in Second Place, while Tesla and Mitsubishi continue the race for the Bronze Medal, this time with the advantage going for the japanese manufacturer.

There are other points of interest below, BMW is resisting VW advances in the race for #5, with Renault not that far away, while Chevrolet and Ford re-enter the Top 10, benefiting from the Chinese-New-Year-derived slow month of the chinese manufacturers.

- Tesla Model S and Volt II run for #1;- Leaf surges to record levels in Japan, stirs local EV Market (0.97% vs 0.54% in '15);- Outlander PHEV, King Of England, in moderate growth market (1.18% vs 1.07%);- Zoe rules in France, e-Golf in Norway, both markets are in record levels (1.66% for FR, 27.68% in NO);- Close race for the Top Spots in Germany;- The Revenge of All-Electric Cars in The Netherlands, with the EV share crumbling from 9.6% to 1.5%;- BYD goes interstellar in China.Trends in other Markets

Looking at the monthly models ranking, we can see that the two Best Selling Plug-in Hybrids of 2015, Outlander PHEV and Golf GTE, in Third and Fourth, surpassed by two all-electric vehicles, with the Renault Zoe hanging once again to the leadership (1.625 units, up 66% YoY), followed by the rejuvenated Nissan Leaf, which has seen its sales double regarding the same month last year.

Pl

Model

Sales

1

Renault Zoe

1.625

2

Nissan Leaf

1.429

3

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

1.386

4

VW Golf GTE

886

5

BMW i3

795

Looking at the YTD ranking, the Nissan Leaf edged a little bit closer to the runner-up Outlander PHEV, now there are only 103 units separating them, while the BMW i3 surpassed the VW e-Golf and reached the Fourth Position, the VW e-Up! also lost positions, dropping three places to #18, but Volkswagen had good news elsewhere, with its Plug-in hybrids climbing in the ranking: The Golf GTE climbed one position to #6 and the Passat GTE jumped four positions to #12.

Other points of interest are the races in the Luxury SUV class, with the Volvo XC90 PHEV definetely leading the pack, and in the D-Segment/Midsize class, where the #11 Mercedes C350e is managing to run ahead of the 2015 leader Volvo V60 Plug-In (#13) and the increasingly menacing #12 VW Passat GTE.

Looking at the brands ranking, the trophy bearer, Volkswagen (16%, up 1%) has managed to distance itself from Renault, but the 202 units lead is still not enough for the german brand to rest on the laurels. In Third we have BMW, with 12% (Down 1%), itself feeling the heat of the #4 Nissan (12%) and #5 Mitsubishi (10%).

Monday, March 28, 2016

EV Sales continue on the rise, with 135 registrations, a 165% increase YoY, placing the EV Share at 0.81%, a new all-time record, with the bulk of the growth coming from Plug-In Hybrids, with this technology reaching 65% share, with 2016 being the first time PHEV's surpassed BEV's in this market.

This shift in buyers tastes is visible in the models ranking, with the Top 2 models being Plug-in Hybrids, the Mercedes C350e is now in First Place, dropping the Mitsu Outlander PHEV to Number Two.

The first all-electric vehicle comes in Third, with the Nissan Leaf registering 26 units, a 188% rise YoY.

Outside the podium, the Volvo V60 Plug-In (19 units, new record) has surpassed the BMW i3, which has collected an additional 11 units in February, all being of the BEV variety.

There are two newcomers to the ranking, both BMW's, the 225xe Active Tourer has registered its first three units, while the 330e landed with two units, considering the success of the Mercedes C350e in this market, the 330e might also have a bright future here.

In the manufacturers ranking, Mercedes (25% Share) is the new leader, being the first time that the german brand ascends to the Manufacturers Top Spot anywhere. Second in the ranking we have Mitsubishi (20%), with Nissan in Third (15%).

If we combine February regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Auris Hybrid is #1, followed by its smaller brother Yaris Hybrid relative and the Mercedes C300 diesel hybrid, in surprising Third Spot.

In fourth we have another Mercedes C-Class, this time the gas plug-in hybrid version, followed by the all electric Nissan Leaf.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Back in the early days of the Third Age of the Electric Car, the need for range and the ability to go long distances in a 100% electric car was a hot topic, because EV's needed to get out of their natural habitat (Metropolitan Areas) and avoid mistakes of past lives.

One of the easiest ways to increase the pure electric cars ability to go farther, is through Fast-Charging, a sort of refueling of a gas car, but made in an EV, you arrive at a predetermined place, refuel/charge and minutes later, you can resume your journey, this time with a full tank/battery.

The first to establish a standard protocol for these kind of machines were the Japanese, in 2010, having named it CHAdeMO, an abbreviation of "CHARge de MOve", or "Move by Charge", with the charging rate usually set at around 50kW, but it can go up to 62.5 kW.

The network quickly expanded in Japan, having already 582 Stations in March 2011, providing quick charging to the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi I-Miev, as well as to a number of other pilot-mode models.

In 2012, around the same time the Model S was launched, Tesla started to deploy their Supercharger stations, it was a necessity for the new model owners for their quick charge, because the Model S had batteries three or four times larger the regular BEV, so they needed also a three to four times higher charging rate to refill batteries, hence the 120 kW-capable Supercharger, it operates a bit like Apple, as other manufacturers are not compatible with them.

Finally, in 2013 a new Fast-Charging protocol emerged in Europe, the CCS, or Combined Charging System, which allows for a smaller plug and is allegedly more flexible to develop to higher charging rates than the CHAdeMO.

This new standard is supported by Ford, General Motors and the German automakers, competing with CHAdeMO for a Golden Standard in EV Fast Charging.

The Race

Number of EV's sold per type of Fast Charger

Year

Chademo

CCS

Tesla

2011

33301

2012

38852

2721

2013

72701

3391

22442

2014

100280

25521

31655

2015

105504

45177

50567

As is possible to see, Chademo (still) has the lead, having sold more than CCS and Tesla together, but the growth has stalled in 2015, while the other two continued to expand rapidly, and that despite the fact that CCS has been hampered by brands that are behind it are focusing on plug-in hybrids, where they don't include CCS.

2017 and 2018 will be all important years in the race between Chademo and CCS, as the Nissan Leaf will defend its lead over the CCS-compatible Chevrolet Bolt, Ford plug-ins and the German new BEV's.

A curious take on this Fast Charging standards race is given by the Hyundai-Kia Group, if the Kia Soul EV is playing by the Chademo team, the new Hyundai Ioniq EV has joined the adversary team...A change of mind by the Group or are they playing it safe, having players in both teams?

Finally, the Tesla SC is not intended to fight the other two, but as with its vehicles, the ever-expanding network and top-of-the-range charging abilities, it has carved a special (And desired) place in the market, a bit like Apple has done in the software world.

Over the past months, i have cooperated in the making of the European Alternative Fuels Observatory, a portal which aims to include all the relevant information regarding Alternative Fuels in Europe, namely Electric Vehicles.

There you will find information on registrations, infrastructure and incentives, among other topics, for the moment it is focused on electricity, but the goal is to expand information to hydrogen and Natural Gas in a later stage.

In fact, this is not the end of a journey, but the first stage, with time we aim to improve the quality and quantity of the information provided and help local entities (Governments, etc) to promote a more sustainable mobility to citizens.

This endeavor also helps EV Sales, as the quality of sales data presented in the countries that are part of the EAFO project, will also help improve EV Sales data over time, especially in the case of a certain "Moby-Dick"... ;)

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Dear readers, as EV Sales grows, so does the need for more comprehensive and accurate data, on top of that, plug-ins are spreading to more and more countries and sometimes is difficult to detect and/or extract data from these new markets, so i'm calling for your help, if you can get EV sales data from the below markets, please send me an email (efeelblog@gmail.com), so that we can put them on the map and "Spread the Word". Your help can be anonymous if you want and will be greatly appreciated.

Austria

Micky has been doing a major effort reporting Austrian EV Sales in its My Ampera Blog, but PHEV's are still uncharted territory in that market, if anyone has data on Plug-in hybrids in Austria your help would be much appreciated :)

Japan

Data is available on some models, but lacking regular data on others, like the Nissan e-NV200 or imports, etc, which prevents us from getting a full picture of the EV Scene;

UK

One of EV Sales "Moby Dick's", there's regular data on global volumes from SMMT, but data from individual models is sparse and comes with several months delay, with this market growing by the day (It was the 6th largest this January), it becomes more and more important to know what is going on here.

India

There is some data regarding the Mahindra Reva E2O performance here, but it is not a regular source and it misses the rest of the electric market, now that the Indian market is seriously considering EV's, it would be great if we could start following this market.

South Korea

There isn't a regular source for data regarding this market, which is a shame considering there are several models selling there (Kia Soul EV, Samsung SM3 ZE, Chevrolet Spark EV, etc) and this is a market with great growth potential. If anyone has access to regular detailed data for South Korea, could you please contact me.

Australia

Another market with tremendous growth potential, where numbers still come randomly, which is a shame, now that sales are tripling, this should be one of the markets to follow more closely.

Hong Kong, Slovakia and Poland

There's only monthly data by dedicated models, if anyone has access to the full data, including ICE-based plug-ins, please contact me;Other Markets that require data source:Luxembourg, Romania, South Africa, Bulgaria, Brazil, Turkey, Costa Rica and Mexico

Despite an EV market up 78% YoY, the EV Share is still at 0.74%, with many consumers probably waiting for the incentives policy to be finally approved, maybe then the market share finally can reach the symbolic 1% barrier.

After the Kia Soul EV stealing the show in 2015, the German EV market is back at its usual self, with various candidates to Number One and several changes in the top positions, this time it was the Renault Zoe turn to seat at the Leader's Throne, but the local runners are really close, especially the VW Golf GTE (#2, 11 units behind) and BMW i3 (#3, 15 units less), so the french hatch has to keep a close eye on the rearview mirror, if it wants to keep the #1 position a little longer.

A special mention to the Audi Q7 e-Tron, now in full speed and registering 123 units, already leading the hot Luxury SUV segment and only 27 units behind the Outlander PHEV, so the SUV leadership might be near for Audi's Panzer.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen continues in the Top Spot, with 20% share (Down 1%), followed by BMW (16%, down 2%) and in Third we now have Audi (13%), benefitting from a positive month of the A3 e-Tron and the aforementioned Q7's e-Tron push.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

If February remained below the record numbers of the previous month, nevertheless the 655 EV's registered allowed to be the second best month ever and to triple sales YoY, with the 2016 EV Share now placed at a brilliant 1.48%, being this one of the fastest growing markets this year.

The Volvo XC90 T8 struck a chord in Belgian buyers, which have been bying them in droves (225 units, all-time record for a single model), being the largest market for the swedish SUV this year, staying even in front of the much larger US Market.

Looking at the YTD ranking, we see a 100% Luxury SUV podium, with the aforementioned Volvo XC90 T8 leading the way from a far, while the BMW X5 40e (61 units) and the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In (63), are running for Second Place.

Outside the podium, the Tesla Model S continued in Fourth, now followed by the Nissan Leaf, which surpassed the BMW i3 and reached the Fifth position, one interesting stat of the Leaf is that of the 40 units sold (Best result in a year), only 25 had the 30kWh battery, meaning a 63% ratio for the new battery.

Record numbers for the Mercedes C350e, the 39 units were not only its personal best in Belgium, but also the best result for a Mercedes model in this market. A sign that Mercedes is finally ramping up production?

Two models have landed, both coming from BMW, the 225xe Active Tourer registered its first three units, the career of this model is a question mark and will depend a lot on fleet & company buyers, something that the 330e has it easier, but it also comes with more responsability, as its sales goal is clear: Beat the Mercedes C350e.

In the manufacturers ranking, Volvo consolidated the lead (32%, up 4%), followed by BMW (19%, down 5%), and Porsche in Third, with 12%.

As curiosity, there were two additional Toyota Mirai registered last month, elevating the Fuel Cell tally to four units this year, three Mirai's and one Hyundai ix35 FCEV.